Show Reviews

This one's sure to be overshadowed by the previous night's fun (not to mention the Berkeley run and the first night at Telluride), but this show is full of stellar performances, and (in our Era of Plentiful Hard Drive Space) shouldn't be overlooked.

My personal first set highlight is Ocelot - a laid-back, patient, melodic version that shows off Phish's (particularly Trey's) restrained lead playing. It's no 'He's Gone,' of course, but it's getting there. Bravo! The rest of the first set is fine, as expected, but we'll let Ocelot stand as an indicator of the quality of the playing.

As for Set Two, it's one of those 'Not As Good As _______' sets that's nonetheless exceptionally well played. The Light isn't as darkly illuminating as at the Greek, nor is Meatstick as drawn out as at Merriweather in June, and there's no soaring 'Dave's Energy Guide' jam to close out Fluffhead as in last year's Red Rocks version. Instead, each song offers some nice little turn or filip, from a screaming reprise in 46 Days to a *volcanic* Page solo over Trey's jagged rhythm guitar in Maze (which Trey then matches, thanks in no small part to some extraordinary Mike/Fish work).

The Meatstick > Mango segue is probably the most interesting transition since the return: Trey starts up Mango over a ambient-textured Meatstick jam; Mike joins him, with the other two guys holding back, bringing darkness in at the edges; Fish finally flips to a sprightly hi-hat pattern, leaving only Page in the previous key and feel. Page keeps his own synth weirdness going for more than a minute, during which Trey patiently plays that sugary-sweet Mango line over and over, the clouds slowly parting, and when Page hops over to the acoustic piano it's like a new day altogether. Awesome!

The Fluffhead outro jam, when it comes (twenty minutes later), feels like a continuation of the party energy: Page provides unexpected harmony on 'Fluffballs!' and Trey lets out a roar as he kicks into an ecstatic guitar solo. The playing matches the open sky and easy feeling of the venue, and it's a joy to hear.

The soulful Slave encore is as good as the rest of the show: vintage 2010 Phish stuff, played with an emotional weight and maturity the band could never have mustered even six years ago...

There hasn't been a bad show all summer; this one would've been an easy highlight in 2009 (and of course we'd've killed to hear this kind of focus and empathy in 2004!). I'm stunned by the quality of Phish's recent playing, and can't wait to hear what comes next. I sometimes miss the prickling pre-millennium darkness of the late 90's, but this music is too energetic and beautiful to get hung up on comparisons to the past. Enjoy this show. Christ knows the musicians did.

I think its safe to say that Phish has transcended the sketchy outlines of their 2009 selves, and last night in Indiana provided a glaring example of their evolution.

The quality of the setlist is just as good as it looks on paper (or monitor, of course.). The jams were tight and succinct yet spacious and every song - save for Train Song - provided a little glimmer of improvisational opportunity.

Deer Creek is always a blast; if you haven't been make the trek and reward yourself. I'll start by saying that.

Our show really began in the lot leading up to the venue. Our small group of heads traversed the gravek lots with beer-in-hand, and, mid-sip, I spied Mike Gordon cruising towards us on a canopied four-wheeler.

ME: 'That's Mike Gordon!"

MIKE: 'Yesssss. Hey guys!'

Classic. He had his daughter on the seat next to him and he counted off a big greeting from the crowd gathering around. This is why were here...

...Chalkdust opener is always a classic, kind of like PYITE. This one is short but ubersweet, nothing quite like Camden earlier this summer. MY first Guelah was well-received, as was My Sweet One, Axilla and the vac-fest I Didn't Know. WALLS OF THE CAVE! Has it been played at all this tour? Not quite sure but it was a royal treat in the lawn of Deer Creek. The Stash that followed was hot, definitely not a rote rendition of an old standby. The jazz is alive, folks!

The final 5 songs of the 1st set blew the doors off the venue - literally. BDTNL is hated by many, chertished by few...I guess I'm in the minority on this one, as this version was searing. Curtis Loew? Really!? If someone were to tell me 6 years ago, 'Hey, Phish is coming back, and they WILL pull Curtis Loew off the dusty shelf again,' I probably would have sneered. Both Wilson and Possum raged, ensuring that the masses would faithfully wait for the 2nd set to come.

Really, all I can say is listen to this set. Without making a lengthy review, the definite highlights in the 2nd set is the Meatstick (!) -> Mango. It is bonafide audio-nectar.

The Slave encore is fantastic, providing hope that some of the classic material can be worthy of some of their earlier highlights.

I Didn't Know- As soon as they started it, I wen't apeshit!!! That vacuum solo was awsom. Ever since listening to Colorado 88 millions of times, I've been dying to hear this live. I thought Fish was actually singing the last verse/chorus with it too?

WOTC- now this songs been shelved since Coventry.... AND THEY COMPLETELY NAILED IT!! Not much of a jam to it, but they mastered the composed sections. Stellar version.

Stash- this was very well placed in the set, and it was a complete energy booster in the crowd (thats how it appeared to me). The jam was short, but it was sweet.

Train Song- a nice breather to a smokin' hot first set.

BDTNL- The first song off the joy abum off the evening, and it was more of a sing-a-long. I didn't care for the jam, I've heard way better jams to this tune, but the overall playing of the song was great. IMHO this is the best song off Joy.

Ocelot- Now I was somewhat frightened about where this set was headed (especially since this is not a song I really care for) but the boys honestly had a very nice jam, Trey was finally playing with the band, not just throwing out solo after solo, but playing very very melodically, as was Gordo.

Curtis Lowe- the only cover of the evening was very very well played.

Wilson was wilson.

Possum- a great choice for the first set closer, and they had an AMAZING jam with Gordon dropping bomb after bomb, Page also rocked this one.

Overall, set 1 gets a B for the lack of jams, but it's still a B because of the absolutely stellar playing. Highlights are Guelah, I Didn't Know, WOTC.

Set 2

Halley's Comet- I called it during setbreak, and I was excited as the last chorus was sung that this jam was going to go somewhere, but then out of nowhere comes

Light- are you kidding me? Did they seriously just go into light? This was the worst past of the show in my opinion, I mean to butcher what i thought was going to be a great Halley's jam with this was depressing nonetheless. The jam in this song was decent though, and it had a weird eerieness to it toward the end of it just like the Toyota Park version earlier this summer with Page doing that electronic-ish synth thing with Gordon playing notes.... I'm just not a fan of this song.

46 Days- alright, I love this song personally and was extremely happy to hear it played. Short jam, but it was a rocker. Trey lead this one with his amazing new guitar (anyone else love it as much as i do?) and before we knew it, we were in a

Maze- Another amazing song selection in perfect placement! this was one was with Page alllll over it, he was going to town on his organ during the jam. Trey started to do some amazing solos too, truly an absolutely awesome version of this great tune. After it was over, Trey went over to Page and Trey must've said the tune to play, and then comes the

Meatstick- ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!!!! This is an all-time favorite of mine, and it was all Mike on this one. Never, have I heard the band play this funky. This version was short, but it was soooo funky and ridiculous with the Japanese lyrics. Awsome choice. Trey started to play a riff that sounded familiar but I couldn't put a label on it, and Page teased Dave's Energy Guide, but before I knew it the Meatstick jam now was

Mango Song- Wow, this is a completely mindblowing second set. This is just classic Phish, they completely nailed this one too. A PERFECT placement in the set too.

Fluff- this one got the WHOLE crowd going crazy!! completely apeshit. okay now this set is shaping up to be a great one, and they also played this song with perfection too, especially the Fluff's Travels section. This song was played with an astounding amount of energy, and the whole crowd yelling "OHHHHH YEAHHHH" still gives me goosebumps=) I thought this was going to close the set, but then comes

Julius- wasn't a fan of this song really until I heard it at Toyota Park this summer, and this version was wayyyy better than the one there too. with Trey leading the jam all the way playing amazing solo after solo, with the band (especially Fish) staying right with him playing just as stellar as Red. Amazing jam to this one too, especially the last 3 minutes of this song are awsome.

Overall, set 2 gets an B+ in my book. the jams were there, and the playing was NOTHING short of spectactular! Highlight for me was Maze>Meatstick->Mango Song>Fluffhead.

Encore

Contact- ahhhh I love this song and I was completely ecstatic to hear it, it was very very well played and then out of nowhere comes

Slave- WOW! Couldn't of asked for a better encore then this, and the jam to this tune was so ambient, soft, and melodic it almost made me cry because it was so beautiful.

Overall this is the greatest band in the world, and they should come back to the midwest soon!!!

after the previous night's show, which i thought was good, i thought phish would really step up and blow up this evening. i can't say they really hit that next level, but they put on a damn good show.

chalk dust got things started in typical fashion. they started to space out for a bit, but they quickly brought it back into familiar territory. papyrus was a very well-received treat. trey did botch parts of this tune, including missing his cue to start the vocals and a bit of the asse festival. either way, it was good to hear. my sweet one was sharp and got the crowd hopping. axilla brought the energy up another peg and trey appeared to be having fun rocking this one out. i didn't know was a nice juxtaposed nicely with axilla. it was good to see fishman back on the vacuum, and he laid down a nice solo. on the back end, page, trey, and gordo had some nice vocal harmonies behind over the vacuum. then they broke out wotc. this is not my favorite song, but it was well-played, especially since it had been shelved for awhile. it did provide the first jam of the night. fishman sounded really good here, and trey wailed over him. i thought the stash at telluride was a bit disjointed, but they played a conservative but much more cohesive version at deer creek. train song was a nice cool down and then they played number line again. i'm not a very big fan of this tune either. it just sounds cheesey to me. if you are a fan, well, this version is well-executed. good to hear in the first set and not the second. after they ripped ocelot in telluride, i was hoping they would bring it back out at deer creek. this song has come along very nicely. the telluride version had a slightly harder edge in the improv/jam portion of the tune. this one stayed mellow, and trey showed a lot of patience. both versions are good but they are quite different. curtis loew was a very pleasant surprise. page nailed the vocals, and trey really buried his solo here. wilson rowled up the crowd, and another very fine possum sent everyone into set break all smiles.

after the two nights in telluride, heavy travel, and a night and a half at deer creek, i was starting to drag ass a bit, but phish picked me right back up with the halley's comet opener. unfortunately, they still don't jam this tune out. they take it and just slam it into the next song. tonight it was light. i figured they would play this song, and i was hoping they would be feeling ambitious tonight. they quickly dipped into a nice, pleasant spacier jam. trey seemed to be leading this one, and while it was not as good as others from the summer, it still had its own unique twists and turns. eventually, they found their way into 46 days. the jam really crashed into the song nicely, picking the energy up immediately. the middle section was nice and thick with a good trey solo, but when they brought the song back around, it was quite a send up. good take of 46 days. after that, they went into one of my favorite songs being played in the 3.0 era. page and trey just destroy this maze, like they have so many times in the past one and half years. trey was really hot in the "dissodant" part of the song. i have never been a huge fan of the whole meatstick thing, but this song certainly better when the boys are focusing on the music and not leading the dance. also, it seems many in attendance have forgotten/did not know the dance. oh well, never was really fan of that either... while i'm not a huge meat stick fan, the transition from meatstick to mango song was remarkable. trey fucked up parts of the mango song, but like papyrus the night before, it was really nice to hear this one pop up again. the set us up for a massive fluff head. this might be the best one i've seen since i've been back. they really owned this version, and page was just beautiful on it. i'm not a big julius fan but this one did take off nicely, with good playing from page and trey.

like fee the night before, contact was completely under my radar. it was fun hearing this one again, and the crowd really got into it. i thought they might play something quick and easy after this but they dipped into one of the better slaves i've seen. in fact, it might have been the highlight of the show. trey and page weaved between each other beautiful while gordo and phish just laid down a gorgeous and subtle foundation. check out the slave. great way to close out another fine year at deer creek.

Just got done hearing this one for the first time. Very solid, fun show.

CDT>Guelah is a sick start to a show in my opinion! First set may be a little inconsistent but the playing is very good I think. Awesome Stash and Wilson>Possum to close the set

The second set may look weird to some at first to some (like myself) but there are some tasty jams in here. Spacey yet awesome Light>46 Days. This Maze shreds face and Meatstick is always good for me. The transition into Mango Song is nice and Fluffhead and Julius always rock.

I truly found my dream of an encore to a Phish show after hearing this show. Contact>Slave. Perfect in my eyes.

Loved all four nights of the midwest run. Guelah Papyrus, Axilla, I Didn't Know and Curtis Loew stand out from the first set. The Maze from the second set is hot, look out for Page's solo after the first composed section it's PHenomenal. Meatstick > Mango > Fluff > Julius was really, really great. I had already decided to drive through the night to Alpine to skip the Chi-town traffic, and the double dose of 'car themed' songs in Contact > Slave to end 2010 Deer Creek was about as serendipitous as it gets. Thanks Phish.

First set was great (curtis loew, possum,didn't know, backward.......), . It was a strange experience for me - it almost felt more like I was just hanging out in the lawn with friends while phish was jamming a tight set in the background. It was cool though - waiting for a second set blow up.

Halley's Comet > Light > 46 Days >

ehhhh............

Don't get me wrong - nothing personal against those songs - definitely not Halleys and maybe more Light, but heard the same two song opener at Raleigh and really felt the same way. Haley is a bad ass opener, but then to go into light - just kind of deflated my sail a bit. The rest of the night had solid tunes(ie mango, meatstick) but nothing really felt like it caught fire for me.

I never have and hope never will say a show was a bust and won't for this nights, but my expectations for phish at DC are way way way high, and the second set kind of fell short for me. Good show though and still made it to Alpine the next night!

my 23rd show, and my wife's 3rd. finally she got to hear some stuff she really wanted to hear (i didn't know, halley's, stash, mango), plus a couple firsts for me (contact, curtis loew), plus i'm always stoked to hear a slave. not to mention, i thought i heard something familiar in the segue from meatstick into mango, little did i know it was a deg tease! last year at deer creek i thought the boys had played better than any show i'd seen since big cypress, and i thought trey was a little rougher than that show this time around. but overall, i thought the jamming showed great creativity and cohesiveness, which is why i (and, i suspect, a lot of phish fans) continue to show up in the first place. but for god's sake, whose leg does a guy gotta hump to get a foam, forbin/mockingbird, bold as love, harpua, peaches, or sneakin sally? jk, love you guys, don't you DARE ever break up again! i cried at coventry, one of maybe 3 or 4x since i was a little kid, REALLY don't wanna do that again!

These were my 7th and 8th time seeing Phish at this venue and it gets better every time. I love this place. I hope to see them again next summer (hope its not as hot as it was this year too). I enjoy coming here from Dayton. This is by far the best place to see Phish (never been to Alpine Valley). Parking lot is alot of fun too. Hope to see everyone again next year along with Fluffhead.

Set 1: Guelah dance was kind of off, but oh well, it's a silly dance. As long as the music is okay. Was happy to see my sweet one. Always love axilla. (my first song, and a rocker). I always like seeing i didn't know, or goofy fishman songs. Shows the band is having fun on stage and is playing around. However, what was with Trey SPRINTING from the drums to end the song??? Weird. No one seemed ready for that. Walls of the cave was nice, forgot that I like that song. Backwards down the number line seemed great for a short one. One thing I like about #line is there are some great 'standard' ones and when they are jammed out they have always been good/great. However, this featuring nice building/peaking from Trey/Page. Ocelot peaked nicely, I recall. Curtis Loew, now 2nd time seeing it this summer, never ever thought i'd see it before. I'll take it! Wilson>possum is a nice way to close the set. Good energy.

Set 2: Was hoping the Halley's would get jammed out, being Friday the 13th and their 20th creek show. Short and sweet into Light. Light contained a nice jam, and they came back into the ending of the song which was really cool and then jammed a little bit more before going into 46 days which seemed to smoke and dissolved into Maze which featured nice interplay with page/trey and raged. Meatstick started up, good little funk groove to dance too. The segue into Mango song was AWESOME i think. I did actuallyr elisten to this, and it seemed so much better at the venue. The bass was so loud and Mike was doing this awesome stuff that sounded like it was "swirling." and it just doesn't seem to have nearly the same effect on the recording. But good segue none the less and I love Mango song so that was a nice calmer song after some nice jamming. Fluffhead was played well and seemed to peak nicely. The julius closer smoked. Just straight up rocking.

Encore: 2 classic phish songs to close it out. Nice little funk jam in contact, and a very solid slave. Built up nicely, the past couple slaves have been quite nice for 3.0. Good work from trey, taking patience to build them up.

My second phish show. First was last year at the only night they played in Deer Creek with the wonderful lightning storm. Left when they sent us to cars and the rain poured. Anyway, saw this with a friend, and may I say, this show was ON FIRE! Energetic opening with Chalk Dust Torture, then it was rarity after rarity. Great great show. Halley's Comet was beautiful and the light sticks were an amazing touch to it. The light show itself was amazing. Really helped catch a visual aspect of the music. Fishman with the vaccuum solo was enjoyable to watch. Not an ounce of rust on these guys. This show was a 5/5 in my book. The lawn was the best place to see it at. Great job guys! Can't wait to see ya next year.

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